Sands of Time: January 2011

The very first race of the new year is a 1000m sprint for juveniles at Turffontein, won by Var-colt Marble Drum at 6/1. The winner is trained by Paul Matchett, who’s proving a dab hand with early 2yo’s year after year.

Fifty-nine horses, aged two and older, change hands at the Graham Beck Reduction sale on January 7th. The auction comes as a result of the death of this major owner/breeder some months earlier. Only two of catalogued lots aren’t sold (they are withdrawn). The remainder average a very respectable R168.000. Top price is R1 million for Divine’s Jet, a 2yo colt who’s in the middle of a wrangle over his name between the Devines, owners of his sire Jet Master, and the colt’s breeder Highlands. There clearly is no love lost between the warring parties. The youngster had been through the ring before, at the 2010 National Sale, when knocked down for R4 million to Geoff Woodruff, presumably buying on behalf of Graham Beck.

Rain, rain go away

Rain plays havoc with race meetings and training schedules in Gauteng and Natal. In the first two weeks of the month, Greyville has two of its meetings abandoned, the Vaal loses one. A meeting at Clairwood is abandoned after three races later in the month. The same happened at Borrowdale Park in Zimbabwe.

Trainer Mike de Kock, who might well have connections in higher places, seems to have been forewarned about the bad weather and sent his big-race mare Mother Russia to the Cape well in advance of the Gr1 Queen’s Plate. This to make sure there are no interruptions in her training schedule.

Staged at Kenilworth on January 8^th, the Queen’s Plate is sponsored by l’Ormarins, setting the bar higher still than in previous years and showing that the J&B sponsored Met isn’t the only show in town.

Queen’s Plate

The Queen’s Plate is billed as a potential match between Mother Russia and unbeaten 3yo Ebony Flyer, winner of the Cape Fillies Guineas at her previous start. A massive daughter of Jet Master trained by Justin Snaith, Ebony Flyer is touted as the next champion. Also in the race is former champion Pocket Power, who is attempting to make it four Queen’s Plates in a row, but whose age seems to be catching up with him.

In a very fast run race, Mother Russia makes short shrift of the opposition, winning by two lenghts in a time just outside the course record.  Ebony Flyer looks to have every chance, but cannot do better than third, with Pocket Power, for whom the writing is now firmly on the wall, in fourth.

The post-race presentation shows how the power base has shifted: a mare wins the race, the owner is Mary Slack, the breeder is Veronica Foulkes, the race sponsor is Gaynor Rupert, and the Queen’s trophy is handed over by the British High Commissioner Nicola Brewer.

The second R1 million Gr1 race on Queen’s Plate day is the TBA sponsored Paddock Stakes, the country’s premier weight-for-age event for fillies and mares. The lead changes several times in the closing stages, with fast finishing 3yo Snaith-trained filly Emerald Cove taking the honours.  The win is put in perspective an hour later, by Ebony Flyer’s defeat in the Queen’s Plate: Ebony Flyer, a stable companion of Emerald Cove, had shown to be lengths better.

The presentations on the day resemble an outing of the amateur dramatic society, with a failing sound system, and speeches with content to put everyone to sleep. As part of the proceedings, Gary Player is invited to make a ‘major announcement’, which turns out to be that the Cape ‘will host a major international race next year’. No other details are provided, not on whose behalf the announcement is made, nor who will provide the prize money needed to get those overseas runners to compete. It is only weeks later that some sketchy details emerge, but still without any firm commitments.

On-course MC Neil Andrews is the breath of fresh air and single-handedly keeps the show on the road, certainly for tv viewers.

Andrews’ post-race quip that Mother Russia’s jockey Anton Marcus has ‘brought home the bacon’ does not appear to be intentionally hilarious.

Embattled Gold Circle

January is a watershed month for Gold Circle, with infighting between Cape and KZN fractions becoming increasingly hostile in the weeks leading up to the AGM, scheduled for early February. The Cape, it seems, wants its independence again, and prepares to fight for it.

Rumours circulate in local media about future government clamp-downs on alcohol related advertising and promotions. This could be similar to the clamp-down in the tobacco arena, which in the racing context caused Rothmans to give up sponsorhip of the Durban July a decade ago. Both J&B and l’Ormarins sponsorships could be affected if rumours prove to have foundation.

Cape Flyer

Three-year-olds are to the fore again in open company when What A Winter wins the Gr1 Cape Flying Championship, run at weight-for-age over 1000m at Kenilworth. The Mike Bass trained Western Winter colt had shown much promise in sprints earlier in the season, tempting his connections to explore his ability to stay a mile. Even though it wasn’t conclusively proven that his defeats in the Cape Classic and Cape Guineas were due to stamina limitations, What A Winter’s latest win will probably see him confined to sprints for the rest of his career. He’s part-owned by his trainer and long standing patron Marsh Shirtliff.

Handicapped

South Africa’s weird handicapping ‘exception rules’, forced on the official handicapper by the board of the NHRA*, make for a Guinness Book of Records candidate when unbeaten Royal Zulu Warrior is priced up in the red at odds of 1/10 in a 12-horse Merit Rated 80 Handicap at Clairwood. They bet 10/1 and higher the rest of the field.

The NHRA Rules (47.4.2) state that a handicap is a race where weights are allocated to equalize horses’ chance of winning. It seems that the NHRA Rule book is at odds with reality, but nobody pays much attention.

Continuous rain throughout the meeting forces racing to be abandoned before Royal Zulu Warrior can run. Which means we’ll have to go through all this again at a later date…

*NHRA stands for National Horse Racing Authority, known to old-timers as the Jockey Club. The NHRA’s motto is “maintaining the integrity of the sport of horseracing”.

Ready to Run Sale

The Equimark Ready-to-Run sale is held on the Tuesday prior to the J&B Met, as the sale’s normal spot is hijacked by the TBA’s Cape Premier Sale. Stan Elley secures a half sister to Natal Derby winner Winter Weather for R220k at the Equimark Ready-to-Run sale at Durbanville. The daughter of Jet Master comes from the Gr1-producing Party Time female line. Second highest price is R180k for a Western Winter half brother to Gr1 Gold Cup winner Thundering Star, their dam Olympic Storm a Gr3 winner of five races. The youngster’s third dam is multiple Gr1 winning champion Olympic Duel. The top priced lots are both consigned by Varsfontein, as agent for Luke Bailes.

Cape Premier Yearling Sale

Billed as the best sale in the land, the Cape Premier Yearling Sale is held on the two days preceding the J&B Met. It proves to be all it had promised, for if the median price is takes as the benchmark, then the event is the most successful sale ever held in South Africa. The highest median achieved prior to 2011 was at the 2008 National Sale, where colts had a R275k median, fillies R250k, and the overall median R260k. Here both colts and fillies reach R300k.

Top price is R2.5 million for a pair of Jet Master colts, one half brother to Champion miler Jay Peg consigned by Klawervlei, the other a half brother to Alexandra Rose, from the Varsfontein draft.

The first of the yearlings from a Groom’s cooperative scheme, sponsored with funding especially from the Department of Trade and Industry, comes under the hammer. This is lot 48, a Captain Al colt whose bidding seamlessly rises to R350.000. Snaith Racing sign the sales slip. The aim of the Groom’s Incentive Scheme is for any profits to be re-invested into a co-operative for a period of three years, during which additional trading should take place. At the end of the period members will be required to vote on the investments of the profits made.

J&B Met

On the biggest day of racing in the Cape, with 45.000 revellers in attendance, the favourite is upstaged in the J&B Met. Queen’s Plate winner Mother Russia seems to find the 2000m distance just a shade too much, and fails to get on terms with Jet Master colt Past Master, who gets first run on his opponents in the straight.

Western Cape Chapter Chairman Vidrik Thurling says tote turnover on the meeting surpasses expectations, being nearly R500 000 over budget – even though in real terms turnover is down, with Saftote recording a 4% decrease in takings compared to last year.  Saftote turnover on the J & B Met itself is about R10 million, on a total turnover of R33 million. To get perspective, three years ago in 2008 total takings were R34.6 million, which included co-mingling with the French Tote for the first time.